Public Address: Field Theoryhttp://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/
enCopyright (c) 2002-2016 Public AddressNot doing enoughhttp://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/not-doing-enough/
Wed, 07 Sep 2016 15:22:00 +1200http://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/not-doing-enough/Hadyn GreenHadyn GreenI’m a fan of rugby. I’m a fan of the Chiefs. But not today.Today they acted like a group of children who know they are going to be told off. Hiding, shuffling their feet, figuring out what the “right” answers are so they won’t get in trouble, and, most importantly, not narking on their mates.Meanwhile, NZR (there’s no U anymore) gave a press conference (and released a statement) that feels so much like a research report you really didn’t want to do, but you made damn sure the bibliography was perfect.

In summary New Zealand Rugby has found…

]]>Our greatest fearhttp://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/our-greatest-fear/
Sat, 17 Oct 2015 13:44:00 +1300http://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/our-greatest-fear/Hadyn GreenHadyn GreenEverytime we play France, everytime the referee is Wayne Barnes, everytime we play in Cardiff, someone will mention 2007. It was our nadir in terms of rugby, in some ways it was local minimum in terms of rugby support (the Springbok Tour being our rock bottom for that).Since then we have won games under Barnes's control and won plenty of matches against France. In fact since that game we've only lost to France once, oddly it was in the very next game we played against them (Dunedin 2009). And we haven't lost at Millienium Stadium since.The fact is,…]]>It's about timehttp://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/its-about-time/
Thu, 24 Sep 2015 10:58:00 +1200http://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/its-about-time/Hadyn GreenHadyn GreenMcCawtomaticI feel I need to start with this: I don’t like Richie McCaw any more.Four years ago I was firmly on the Captain Tackles fan train. McCaw was everything we liked in player. Smart, fast, big, at the edge of the rules and a work horse. He shone in the statistics that we like: first to the breakdown, tackles, test caps. He is the stereotypical All Black, all stoic and shit.It feels like so long since that World Cup and now I’ve got a problem and I can’t shake it. Sports and politics, man. Yeah yeah yeah…]]>Real Fanshttp://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/real-fans/
Wed, 01 Jul 2015 09:41:00 +1200http://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/real-fans/Hadyn GreenHadyn GreenWellington is currently consumed with the toughest philosophical question ever: who is a real fan of the Hurricanes?It’s a pretty fucking deep question. As tickets to the final sell out in unbelievable time are the real fans the ones who a) slept in the queue for tickets, b) got priority as season ticket holders, c) paid inflated prices for them on TradeMe, or d) complained online about who weren’t real fans.

That face you make when they swear they were there all year but all you saw were yellow seats. pic.twitter.com/eSUjWRosxV— Whā Kapow (@Rarerecordings_) June 30, 2015

'Real fans…

]]>The World Cup is overhttp://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/the-world-cup-is-over/
Wed, 18 Feb 2015 15:55:00 +1300http://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/the-world-cup-is-over/Hadyn GreenHadyn Green“The Cricket World Cup is officially over.” That’s me quoting myself before New Zealand smashed England in a surprisingly short game in Wellington.I don’t follow cricket, as many of you know, but it’s bit of fun to watch when we’re doing well and the games are short. So my reasoning for that premature statement on the Cup was based on the what the goal of any World Cup actually is.World Cups are not about finding out which team is the "Best in the World", and they aren’t even about the more cynical goal of discovering which team is…]]>World Cup of Evilhttp://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/world-cup-of-evil/
Tue, 08 Jul 2014 14:00:00 +1200http://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/world-cup-of-evil/Hadyn GreenHadyn GreenI'm not sure what theme FIFA was hoping to emphasise at the is world cup, I'll bet good money that it wasn't "villainy". Almost as soon as the knock-out stages started the bad guys started their evil works. Perhaps even before then.Obviously FIFA itself is evil, like the worldwide sporting branch of SMERSH, but that usually doesn't translate directly onto the field. With this in mind, I offer you: The World Cup of Evil!Making my life easier, I'm going to start with the round of 16. This means I don't get to include Cristiano Ronaldo. So before I…]]>It has startedhttp://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/it-has-started/
Fri, 13 Jun 2014 12:04:00 +1200http://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/it-has-started/Hadyn GreenHadyn GreenI really am quite bad at this. I figured that the World Cup would start Friday night because I don’t understand how time works. FIFA went and opened the largest sporting event of the year on a Thursday, clearly undeterred by the possibility of low attendance.Still arriving at work to see the game stream live on TVNZ (despite pretty crap quality) was a blessing. The fact that the game was fun to watch was also fantastic. The Croatian keeper was making some great saves, right up until the point where he decided to stop doing that.The new spray…]]>Call it what you willhttp://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/call-it-what-you-will/
Tue, 10 Jun 2014 15:47:00 +1200http://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/call-it-what-you-will/Hadyn GreenHadyn GreenThe World Cup starts on Friday and we are all so very eager to see it, then see it end. As is always the case with large, four-yearly sporting events, there are two parts. Obviously there is the wonderful spectacle of the sport which we stay up late with a cup of Milo to watch. And then there's the heart-breaking waste of resources and potential abuses of human decency that is the running of the thing.John Oliver has done himself proud explaining the “sausage principle” of it here:

FIFA is a maggot-riddled piece of filth, in my humble estimation.…

]]>Drinking & Insomnia & the Winter Olympicshttp://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/drinking-insomnia-the-winter-olympics/
Mon, 24 Feb 2014 15:24:00 +1300http://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/drinking-insomnia-the-winter-olympics/Hadyn GreenHadyn GreenI consider these Winter Olympics to be a success. Not in the way that the athletes, the IOC or, for some reason, the organisers might think. Instead I deem the success to be that I actually got to see some of the goddamn events this time around.It was 2am, and I had been lying wide awake for what seemed like an hour already. I decided to get up and play some video games (because visual stimulation from brightly coloured blinking electronics is bound to make me sleepy). As it turns out, deep in the middle of the night was…]]>Scary Storieshttp://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/scary-stories/
Thu, 31 Oct 2013 15:46:00 +1300http://publicaddress.net/fieldtheory/scary-stories/Hadyn GreenHadyn GreenAs a writer I love a good challenge, especially if it’s short and easily conquered (because as a non-Man Booker-winning writer I am also lazy). So a few months ago I was intrigued by this widely shared Reddit thread: What is the best horror story you can come up with in two sentences.This was the top story:

I begin tucking him into bed and he tells me, “Daddy check for monsters under my bed.” I look underneath for his amusement and see him, another him, under the bed, staring back at me quivering and whispering, “Daddy there’s somebody on…